Kenneth Holroyd, our
newest International Correspondence Chess Master was born April 20, 1958.
Kenneth works at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee as Medical
Director for the Technology Commercialization Center. Kenneth, who was an OTB
Master, found little time for chess other than blitz chess online. Then
in 2010 he was speaking with Dan Fleetwood, an ICCF Grandmaster, who offered
some encouraging words about correspondence chess. Those words and
Kenneth's skill led to the ICCM title in his first two attempts at
international play.

Kenneth notes that the
thing he particularly enjoys about cc is that "it is a more ‘perfect' chess,
and each game can be like a work of art. The games often have a
certain logical flow. Very often the games involve developing new
opening theory and improvements, and many theoretical contributions are made. Spending
a lot of time trying to determine the truth of a position deepens your
appreciation for the depth and complexity of chess. It can only help
a player's over the board and blitz chess for openings, middlegames, and
endgames".

GAME OF THE MONTHICCM Holroyd wrote about
both the work of art and the logical flow of a CC game. This game
may well be an example of both !

KING'S INDIAN DEFENSE
(E97)Notes by Kenneth Holroyd1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3
Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7A complex position in
the King's Indian Defense, which is popular in correspondence chess, offers
chances for both sides.9.b4The Bayonet Attack, a
favorite of former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. The ensuing sharp play can
shift rapidly from the queenside, to the center, to the kingside.9...Nh5 10.c5More common in recent
years are 10 g3 or 10 Re110...Nf4 11.a4!?Much more common is 11
Bxf4. Instead, White immediately continues his queenside expansion. This
uncommon move was experimented with in 2011 by V. Kramnik in a game against H.
Nakamura, which the former world champion lost after a sharp battle.
Subsequently it has been played in a few other over the board games.. This game
was its first use of 11 a4 in the ICCF databases. Since this game I have
completed two other ICCF games with this move, with two wins. Performing new
analysis of little used lines can be a fruitful area for success in
correspondence chess.11...f5 12.Bc4 fxe4
13.Nxe4 Bg4!?Nakamura preferred
13.....h6, after which I believe 14 Ra3 is an improvement on Kramnik's play. I
currently have three ICCF games ongoing with this new move.14.Ra3 Nf5 15.h3 Bh5!?Sharper than ...... Bxf3
on move 15 or 16, after which White has a slight advantage.16.Kh2 Nxg2 17.Bg5Otherwise Black has a
very strong attack and advantage.17...Qc8?I believe better is
17.....Qe8, although after 18 Kxg2 h6 19 Bd2 Nh4+ 20 Nxh4 Bxd1 21 Rxd1 White's
three pieces eventually overwhelmed the Black queen in the game
Holroyd-Balabanov from the same ICCF Master Norm 82 tournament.18.Kxg2 h6 19.Be3 Nh4+
20.Nxh4 Bxd1 21.Rxd1 Kh7 22.Bd3The strongest and
clearest way to press White's advantage seemed to be the following knight
sacrifice.22...Qd8 23.cxd6cxd623...Qxh4 does not help
as after 24 dxc7 Qh5 25 Rg1 White's position is near winning.24.Nxg6!!Much stronger than 24
Nf324...Kxg6If 24.....Re8 then 25
Ng3 still gives White a winning attack.25.Nxd6+ e4!?The best chance to
survive. The two alternatives are 25....Kh5 26 Ne4, after which Black has 10
different reasonable moves as defensive attempts, and 25.....Kf6 26 Bc5, after
which the strongest move for Black is 26....Rg8, and then for White 27 Ne4+ is
stronger than 27 Bh7. I invite the reader to explore these variations. I found
many of them to be very beautiful. As an example, my favorite variation
demonstrating the coordination of White's pieces was 25... Kh5 26 Ne4 Kg6 27
Rc3 Kh7 28 d6 Kh8 29 Rc7 Rf5 30 Rdc1 b6 31 Kh2! and White has a winning
advantage. Working out all of these possibilities to an winning advantage for
White was necessary before playing 22 Bd3,and planning 24 Nxg6.26.Bxe4+ Kh5 27.Bc5 Be5
28.Nf5Black can hang on quite
awhile after 28 Nxb7.28...Rxf5 29.Bxf5 b6
30.Re3 Qg5+ 31.Bg4+ Kg6 32.Rde1 Bf6 33.Be7 Qxd5+ 34.Bf3 Qg5+ 35.Kf1 Re8Unfortunately necessary
at the end of this long forced sequence.36.Bxf6 Qxf6 37.Rxe8
Qxf3White has a winning
advantage, as his two rooks create mating threats, and Black cannot defend by
trading his queen for the two rooks, as the king and pawn endings will be won
for White, due to his extra pawn. This also was reassuring to be worked out
when playing 22 Bd3.38.R1e6+ Kh5 39.Kg1 Qd1+
40.Kg2 Qd5+ 41.Re4 Kg6 42.b5 h5 43.R8e6+ Kg7 44.R6e5 Qa8 45.Kf3 Kh6 46.Re6+ Kh7
47.Re8 Qd5 48.R8e5 Qf7+ 49.Rf4 Qb7+ 50.Ke2 Kg6 51.h4 Kg7 52.Rg5+ Kh6 53.Rgf5
1-0White threatens Rf7 and
R4f6 mate, and defending by trading the queen for the two rooks results in a
lost king and pawn ending. Therefore Black resigned.

Quote: For players with a good
imagination: before going to sleep analyze the position without sight of the
board. Thereby his subconscious is also included in the creative
process during sleep - Horst Rittner

OBITUARIESAuro Bustillo

Auro Bustillo was
born Aug. 11, 1934,died March 14, 2013. Auro was born in Bolivia but lived in San
Jose, CA. Auro reached Expert strength. His daughter remarked that
one of Auro's greatest loves was the game of chess.SCOTCH GAME (C44)Joseph J. Kennedy of
Chalfont, PA born December 1, 1933, died this January. Joseph played
in CCLA and USCF tournaments and OTB.

BLACKMAR GAMBIT (D00)Robert ByrneRobert Byrne,
Grandmaster at OTB, was born April 20, 1928 and died April 12,
2013. He developed his early skills in the game at postal chess. Here is 15 year old Robert in
a game against the strong John Staffer. Ratings are old style (add
approximately 700 points)DUTCH DEFENSE (A10)

Robert ReynoldsRobert Reynolds was born
July 20, 1950, died March 10, 2013. Robert was an International
Master at correspondence chess, but he was also much more. In 1988
his record at correspondence play was 33 ½- ½ . That half point? That
was when he won the 6th US Correspondence Chess Championship
with a 13 ½- ½ score. In the early Nineties Robert was listed in the top 10 in
the world in ICCF rating.

Robert also issued the
"Reynolds Challenge" in the mid-eighties where he offered to bet that no computer
could beat him in a match. That challenge was never accepted.

THE ABSOLUTE
CORRESPONDENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES CHESS FEDERATION 1976-2010

is now available at
McFarland Publishers and Amazon for $45.00 and also Kindle at $16.49

NEW! 2006
Electronic Knights Championship ebook. 190 games some annotated, all
the crosstables, bios of the top three, list of all the finalists, ChessBase
format, .pgn notation and Microsoft .pdf format. $4.00
postage paid for the disk, $2.00 sent to you via email. Hard copy $10 postage
included.Doug Frame defeated his
main rival in this key game from 12W23.

OLD BENONI DEFENSE (A43)

The Fantasy Variation of
the Caro Kann isn't seen too often. Here it gives White some bad
dreams.